What are the cultural dimensions? (Part I)

In this short article we will explain that it is a "cultural dimension" which will help us interpret better those individuals and companies that come from a different culture to ours.

A cultural dimension, measured in degrees or points, is a facet of all human beings. To understand and to provide us with useful information, you need to compare the dimension between countries. Hence, we will understand certain patterns of behavior that are in our opinion "unusual". 

According to Hofstede, there are several dimensions. One of them is the "Distance to power." This is the extent to which the less powerful members of a society (eg operators) accept and expect that "power" is distributed unequally. The power is referred to the social hierarchy. For example, a worker in India easily accepts that his line manager takes decisions about activities that have an impact on the worker even if the decisions have not been discussed with him beforehand. If this happened in Germany, a worker shall be asked before implementing changes or, at least, he should be involved in the process. This is a great contrast between Germany and India. It means that Germany has a very low degree of "power distance" and India a very high one.

Paula Figueiredo

PM Intercultural Agent

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